Calm before the storm(Darcy)

[hugodouglass]

It was a cycle, repeating over and over and over again. A brutal chain of events that never ended, all the same, all life threatening. No rest, no peace.

But it was worth it.
Was it really?

Hugo stared at himself in the mirror of his personal bathroom, his tired reflection staring right back at him as a testament to what had gone on over the past few days. It had been a rough job down on New Earth, having to deal with the Sevens and Dakota's post traumatic incident(almost went into a fetal position when she realized they were going to have to take on those cyberknetic freaks), as well as Katy getting her shoulder blown out and shipped off to an Alliance facility back on Earth(the woman had her arm almost falling out of her socket. Great stuff). And once he got back on board, the Captain informed him of an undercover operation he was going to get sent off to within the next few days.

And oh so conveniently, Lisa and Darcy were on their way and were expected in the next few minutes.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDY!!!"

They were here.

Hugo forced the exhaust off of his face and walked outside to be bludgeoned by a tanner and skinnier(what happened?) Lisa.
"There's my baby!" Hugo lifted the girl up into his arms and twirled her around, Lisa saying through giggles:
"Wheeeeeeee!!!" Once he put her down, he asked her in a more serious tone:
"Did you behave?"
"Welll..." She looked over at Darcy with a sly expression before she turned back to Hugo, saying:
"I broke a vase."
"On purpose?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Becauuuuse. I was running and Darceee said 'Don't run', but I..ran..anyway..." Hugo shook his head slightly, responding:
"And what happened after that?"
"I couldn't play the next day." The girl rocked back and forth on her heels, Hugo saying:
"Now you know not to..."
"Dis..listen?"
"Disobey. Good girl."
"But guess what else we did?! We went on the beach and we went to the mall and Darceeee bought me this new dress and it was neat and then we played on the sand and then...uuummm...we did a bunch of stuff!" Hugo's heart couldn't help but be lifted by the brightness his daughter exhibited. She was going to be quite the firecracker when she grew up.
"That's AWESOME."
"I KNOW!!!" Lisa responded, then going over to the bathroom and shutting the door. Kid needed to go.

Hugo turned then to see Darcy, who had a bit of a tan and seemed a lot more relaxed when she had left. San Diego had done her good. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, saying quietly:
"You have no idea how much I've missed you."

[darcyneumann]

Spending time in San Diego had been just what the Doctor had ordered - irony intended. Casey had stayed with them for the first week, and it had been the three girls having fun, testing the water as to whether they'd work together as a family unit. They needn't have worried. Casey and Lisa continued to kick up a storm as far as their relationship was concerned. There was a constant stream of giggling and happiness when Darcy was in the room and out of it. It was like they'd know each other since birth, it was brilliant. She couldn't have asked for anything better.

The second week was Darcy alone with Lisa, and the fun hadn't stopped. Hugo had raised such a fantastic, perceptive, intuitive, excitable bundle of fun, and she had to admit, she'd become rather attached.

When she had to return to the Venia, she didn't complain. It meant seeing Hugo for the first time in two weeks, and she wanted to know, rather desperately, that he was in one piece.

It was hard to make out what sort of state he was in with Lisa climbing all over him, but once the girl had barrelled into the bathroom, it became all too clear that the trip to New Earth had taken it's toll. He looked worn, a weariness in his eyes.

Taking his head in her hands, she said, "I have some idea." Offering him a smile, she left a lingering kiss upon his lips before wrapping her arms around his shoulders, holding him. "Are you okay to talk about what happened on the mission?" she asked, "do you want to?" He had a tendency to be defensive over his work and involving her in it. But she would listen with open ears if that was what he wanted. She loved him, after all.

[hugodouglass]

Hugo returned the kiss gratefully, allowing DArcy's hand to sooth the ache that throbbed within him. He took one of her hands and kissed them, saying:
"Later. I don't..don't really want to go through it all and go down the usual road of emotional angst that tends to get walked on. Especially with all the junk that's...well, we'll talk about it when Lisa is knocked out." Speaking of Lisa...
"Hey Dad, why is the ship so eeempty? There was like, no one around. Except fooor Uncle Mike and Sammy and Eviiie and Charlie and Gordon."
"That sounds like a lot of people to me, baby."
"But there's always been more!"
"They're taking care of things."
"Oh, who was the girl with the brown hair walking around the observatory? She was all like, walking. And things."
"That's Dakota, sweetheart."
"Who's Dakoooota?"
"She's my partner."
"Partner? Like, your buddy? Your pal? Like snuffy?" Snuffy was her virtual A.I. companion.
"Yes...sort of like snuffy. But come on, lets get your legs stretched out. It was a long trip from Earth and you must be..."
"Hungry!"
"I thought so."

A few hours(and a lot of talk and food later), Lisa was contently curled up on her mattress, reading an actual book(bought from a thrift store in San Diego, no doubt), eyes drooping slightly. Hugo kissed her on the forehead before saying:
"I'm going to leave. Dakota is going to check on you." Dakota had come into the mess hall and Hugo had introduced her to the two ladies as his "Partner", to which Dakota snorted and laughed slightly.
"Does she bite?"
"No baby, most humans don't bite."
"Ok. Because in this book, there's a guy that bites people. And he's super scary."
"Don't worry, Dakota don't bite you."
"Will she tickle me?"
"Maybe."

Hugo had managed to snag a bottle of wine(non commissioned, thank you very much) on his way back from New Earth and strode into the common area, where he had told Darcy to meet him. There were two overstuffed chairs near the fireplace(in fact, the first place they had had a proper conversation) and a table in the space between the chairs, where he had placed two wine glasses an hour or so ago. Hugo poured the wine into the glasses, taking a filled glass and downing half of it in one gulp(yeah, he was a bit on edge), putting the glass back on the table before he started:
"It had started off decently enough. But things got bad quick." He recounted the tale: robots, Dakota's trauma, Katy's "almost" amputation, finding the pile of dead bodies at the back of the complex, the terrible encounter with the psychotic leader of the Sevens, everything. Hugo's voice got shaky as he finished, thankful that he WAS finished. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again:
"And now, Michael wants me on an operation deep in the heart of R4. Undercover nonsense. I don't know if I want to do this anymore Darcy. I don't know if I want to leave you and Lisa...again. Don't know if I could bear it."

[darcyneumann]

Darcy understood Hugo's need to prolong telling her about what happened, it wasn't wise to talk about it in front of Lisa anyway. She didn't need to know, what could possibly be, all the gory details.
Turned out they were gory. It was a wonder they'd all got out alive.
Darcy had pulled the two chairs closer together. She'd kept sat back in her seat at first, the wine glass sitting in her hands, not a drop missing from the amount that Hugo had poured in the first place. But as his story went on, the glass found it's way back onto the table, and she began edging closer, until eventually, she was sitting directly opposite with her hands resting on his knees, gently massaging them with her thumbs. It was instinctual. It didn't matter how horrific it seemed to her, all that he'd been through, it was infinitely worse living through it.
She sighed slightly, looking away as she tried to decide what to say. She would always tell him the truth, but it was how to phrase it. She needed sensical words, and she needed them to be earnest. Looking back at him, she said:
"Lisa and I both understand that you've gotta go what you gotta do," she said, "because we understand your sense of justice, and how passionate you are, and simply, because we love you. If that's what you're worried about, then you know that we'll be okay. But if it's about you, and not wanting to do it, then we understand that too. It's entirely up to you, love, we'll take you as you come, whatever you're doing, wherever you are."
She hoped that made sense, it certainly had made sense in her head. She looked to Hugo for his thoughts, wondering what he would do.

[hugodouglass]

Hugo smiled gratefully, taking her hands in his and squeezing them gently before he responded:
"It's not about me anymore, hotness. It's about us. The four of us. I...I just don't want anything to happen to any of you. And I know, I know that you tell me you'll be ok, but I've been around long enough to know that's not always the case. I don't want to throw away a chance at having a stable family...not again." Hugo kissed her hands, allowing a few moments of silence to settle in(not only did the silence settle, but his thoughts did as well). He knew that he would go off into the assignment head first and dedicate himself to it with all the passion he could. But he wouldn't think about that now...not with their union so close. He knew that Mike would at least give him the next two and a half weeks so that he could actually GET married and enjoy the honeymoon before he had to come back.
"You know, I still haven't given you the ring yet. I guess you can wait until the ceremony. Speaking of which, I had a message on my console that told me the booking went through. Could have gotten it to me a bit sooner, but the place looks stunning. Probably need to start looking at all that stuff soon huh?" It was true: the minute details of the ceremony had escaped Hugo's attention until just now, when the realization that he hadn't sent out ANY kind of invitations, tried to go look for a tuxedo, or any of that sort of the thing. For being a stickler for detail on a crime scene, he wasn't exactly renown for being one in regard to wedding arrangements.
"How did Casey react to the news?"